BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the epidemiology of primary headache disorders in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains very limited. We performed a population-based survey in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia, using methods similar to those of an earlier study in Zambia and tested in multiple other countries by Lifting The Burden. METHODS: In a cross-sectional survey we visited households unannounced in four regions of Ethiopia: the mostly urban populations in Addis Ababa and its environs and rural populations of selected districts in Oromia, Amhara and South Nations Nationalities and People's Regions States (SNNPRS)...

BACKGROUND: Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), a toxin of the anaerobic spore-forming bacterium Clostridium botulinum is used as a drug for alleviating muscle spasticity. Other indications include the cosmetic application in facial muscles, hyperhidrosis and neurogenic bladder disorders. It has been approved since 2010 as the first prophylactic treatment for chronic migraine. The analgesic effect of BoNT was observed early on and is currently the subject of intensive research. Painful postherpetic neuralgia is a common complication of an infection with herpes zoster virus...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this commentary is to review the notion of toxicity in the context of chiropractic practice. DISCUSSION: The belief that body toxicity is the cause of disease has been promoted for thousands of years. Prior to the emergence of the chiropractic profession, the medical profession embraced the notion that the body becomes "toxic," requiring detoxification interventions or surgery. The legacy of body toxicity within the chiropractic approach to patient care began with Daniel David Palmer...

Migraine headache and its associated symptoms have plagued humans for two millennia. It is manifest throughout the world, and affects more than 1/6 of the global population. It is the most common brain disorder, and is characterized by moderate to severe unilateral headache that is accompanied by vomiting, nausea, photophobia, phonophobia, and other hypersensitive symptoms of the senses. While there is still a clear lack of understanding of its neurophysiology, it is beginning to be understood, and it seems to suggest migraine is a disorder of brain sensory processing, characterized by a generalized neuronal hyperexcitability...

: Migraine with aura is a subtype of migraine consisting of neurological disturbances that usually precede headache. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is the likely pathophysiological correlate of the aura phase of migraine, found in common and rare forms of migraine, such as familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM). CSD is a depolarization wave that propagates across the cerebral gray matter transiently suppressing neuronal activity. Prophylactic treatments for migraine, such as topiramate (TPM) or valproate (VPA), reduce the number of CSD events...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The auriculotemporal nerve (ATN) is one of the branches of the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve, which gives rise to many branches to the retromandibular and temporal regions. Of these, the superficial temporal branch can occasionally be the cause of migraine headaches and auriculotemporal neuralgia. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the anatomy of the superficial temporal branch, which has never been described in detail. METHODS: A total of 14 sides of cadaveric heads were used for this study...

BACKGROUND: Stroke-like migraine attacks after radiation therapy (SMART) syndrome is a rare complication of cerebral radiation therapy that usually presents>10 years after treatment as reversible paroxysmal episodes of neurological dysfunction associated with headaches. CASES: We report here on two cases of SMART syndrome in long-term survivors of high-grade glioma for whom neuropathological data were available. The course of the disease was unfavorable. Although the clinico-radiological picture of SMART syndrome clearly differs from classic cerebral radionecrosis, the gross neuropathological lesions observed in our two patients appeared to be similar to those described in focal radionecrosis...

BACKGROUND: Senkyunolide I (SEI) is one of the most important bioactive phthalides of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. (Umbelliferae), a Traditional Chinese Medicine. Our previous studies suggested that it might be developed as a potential treatment for migraine. METHODS: In this paper, we aimed to isolate and characterize the main metabolites of SEI after gavage feeding in rats. Their structures were identified precisely on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and UPLC/Q-TOF-MS spectrometry...

OBJECTIVE: Studies suggest that pain thresholds may be altered before and during migraine headaches, but it is still debated if a central or peripheral dysfunction is responsible for the onset of pain in migraine. The present blinded longitudinal study explores alterations in thermal pain thresholds and suprathreshold heat pain scores before, during, and after headache. METHODS: We measured pain thresholds to cold and heat, and pain scores to 30 seconds of suprathreshold heat four times in 49 migraineurs and once in 31 controls...

BACKGROUND: Osmophobia (Os) has been reported to be much more prevalent in migraine (M) than in other primary headaches, and its high specificity in the differential diagnosis between M and tension-type headache (TTH) has been reported. Os was included in the ICHD II Appendix as a diagnostic criterion of M. It disappeared in ICHD-3 beta. To understand this choice, we reviewed the literature after 2004. METHODS: This was a systematic review. We searched in PubMed, MEDLINE and Cochrane library for "osmophobia", "odour/odorphobia AND headache", "odour/odor hypersensitivity AND headache" and "olfactory hypersensitivity AND headache"...

BACKGROUND: In our previous study of workers, blood donors and medical students, students stood out with a higher 1-year prevalence of migraine (28%) and tension-type headache (TTH) (74%). General factors associated with headache were common for all groups except low physical activity. The hypothesis of this study was therefore that a number of psychosocial factors relating to the personal sphere would better explain the high prevalence of migraine and TTH in students. METHODS: The study population consisted of 1042 students (719 females, 323 males, mean age 20...

OBJECTIVE: The neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) has now been established as a key player in migraine. However, the mechanisms underlying the reported elevation of CGRP in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of some migraineurs are not known. A candidate mechanism is cortical spreading depression (CSD), which is associated with migraine with aura and traumatic brain injury. The aim of this study was to investigate whether CGRP gene expression may be induced by experimental CSD in the rat cerebral cortex...

BACKGROUND: Although the peripheral and central sensitizations of trigeminal nervous system may be one of the important factors of migraine, the precise mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, we examined the influence of the sensitization of the second division of the trigeminal nerve (V2) by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the infraorbital nerve (ION) on migraine headache, using the capsaicin-induced migraine model. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to four groups: (a) sham surgery and topical-dural vehicle application (Sham + Vehicle) group, (b) CCI-ION and topical-dural vehicle application (CCI-ION + Vehicle) group, (c) sham surgery and topical-dural capsaicin application (Sham + Capsaicin) group, (d) CCI-ION and topical-dural capsaicin application (CCI-ION + Capsaicin) group...

IMPORTANCE: Migraine is a highly prevalent and disabling primary headache disorder that is two to three times more prevalent in young women. Among females, there is a steep increase in incidence from puberty to young adulthood, but the mechanisms for the increase are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine if age of menarche is a risk factor for developing migraine headache vs. non-migraine headache by young adulthood. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study, The Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), of adolescents who have been followed since 1996, when they were nine, to 14 years of age...

BACKGROUND: Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) is a rare type of migraine with aura that is characterized by transient hemiparesis. Mutations in three genes (CACNA1A, ATP1A2, and SCN1A) have been found to cause FHM. Among these, nine SCN1A gene mutations were reported to cause familial hemiplegic migraine type 3 (FHM3). However, none of them was reported in China. METHOD: The clinical manifestations of a Chinese FHM family were recorded and all coding exons and flanking intronic regions of the CACNA1A, ATP1A2, and SCN1A genes were tested for mutations...

CONCLUSION: Elevated Motion Sickness Susceptibility (MSS) in Meniere?s disease (MD) is likely to be a consequence of the onset of MD and not migraine per se. OBJECTIVES: Pathologies of the vestibular system influence MSS. Bilateral vestibular deficits lower MSS, vestibular neuritis or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo have little overall effect, whereas vestibular migraine elevates MSS. However, less is known about MSS in MD, a condition in which many patients experience vestibular loss and migraine symptoms...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the relationship among the cerebrum, cerebellum and corpus callosum in migraine patients. METHODS: This work was conducted with cooperation of the Turgut Özal Medical Faculty, Department of Anatomy and Neurology. Migraine patients were divided into four groups: new patients; 1-5 years; 5-10 years; and, more than 10 years. All patients (n=75) and control subjects (n=20) underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and brain images were processed by ONIS and Image J...